Color Psychology in Business Branding

Colour is a wave of light that reflects on an object when light touches it and even though it lets us recognize things, beautify objects there’s so much more to colour than just beautification. Theirs is always a psychological meaning to every colour with respect to their shades and tints, as it appears it our eyes so it affects our mood. Colour is a powerful psychological tool that affects our moods, feeling emotions and how we respond to situations, people and ideas. We instantaneously respond to colours, while some colours put us in a light, happy, excited mood, some put us in a depressing, angry mood. Choosing colours to suit your business may be overwhelming, colours in your business can either send a positive or negative message, increase or decrease sales or make you gain or lose your customer count. Knowing what these colours represent and how it affects the mood would make you decide the right colours to represent and promote your business positively. Two basic colours should be your business colours which represents the business everywhere when using a third colour, it used be used as an accent/sparingly.

Most Commonly Used Colours

1. Blue:Blue is associated with trust, commitment, dependability, loyalty and wisdom. Blue cause the body to stay calm and cool but this is not always true for all shades of blue; brilliant blue is dramatic and dynamic. Blue in your business brand sends a message to the customers of a dependable, committed, and loyal service but you should be careful when using because overuse of blue becomes cold and uncaring. Blue should be used along with another colour; it is a right choice for a basic colour. Blue also aid intuition and reasoning.

2. Red:Red is the colour of attention, often creates a focal point. It produces energize, exciting effects, encourages action and confidence. Red should be used as an accent as it creates a dramatic effect and sends the right amount of energy needed. Overuse of red sends the wrong effect as it can also be associated with danger, rage and anger. Red is also associated with Christmas(giving) and valentine(love), so it might be a plus when hoping to promote your business during these periods

3. Pink:Pink is the most calming of all colours. It calms aggression; you might also want to think of it as a colour of gentle feeling, friendliness and seem to be more of advantage to females than males which makes it more suitable for female or baby brand. Brighter pink is youthful, fun and exciting making it suitable for a teenage brand while vibrant pink have the same high energy as red without being too aggressive and should be used sparingly. Soft pink can be associated with romance.

4. Green:Green is a colour of nature, peace, harmony and growth. Very calming, soothing and a well-paced energetic colour; a natural balance between warm and cool (yellow and blue), so think of it as a relaxing exciting colour. It helps reduce depression, anxiety and nervousness, so if you are thinking of going into naturalhealth brands, you might want to think of green. Dark green is masculine and conservative while light green is calming. Overuse of green is advised against as it is also associated with illness and envy.

5. Yellow:Yellow increases creativity. Colour of the sun, associated with cheerfulness, laughter, optimism and enlightment. Increases energy, activates memory and encourages communication; for a happy brand, choose yellow. Golden yellow carries the promise of a positive future. Yellow should not be overused because it can be overpowering and sends a message of cowardice and illness like red it should be used sparingly in the right places. Yellow is a wrong colour for a baby brand because study shows it tends to make babies cry more

6. Orange:Being a mixture of two high energy colours (red and yellow), orange is a very high energy colour. Associated with warmth, it sparks controversy than any other colour and overuse is advised against. Favourable orange shades should be flamboyant orange, peach or terracotta. True orange sends controversy when used as it doesn’t give a clear meaning, it sends a general “not sure” message.

7. Purple:Purple is a balance between warm and cool (cool blue and energetic red). Purple should be used carefully to command respect, wisdom and as a royal colour represents leadership. It stimulates brain activity, encourages creativity often most sought for among artists. The colour purple appeals greatly to adolescent girls and can be uplifting and calming. Over use of purple can cause unrest or uneasiness so use carefully.

8. White:White is a colour of cleanliness, purity, fresh beginnings and mental clarity. The cleanliness of white makes it suitable for a health brand while the purity and innocence makes it suitable for baby brands

9. Grey:Grey is mostly associated with practical, solid things. Although it sends a message of emptiness, depression and unsettling just a spark of it especially silver will send the feeling of solidity and strong character to your brand.

10. Brown:Brown is a natural, stable, reliable and approachable colour. Use brown in your business brand to represent orderliness, stability and reliability of your services

11. Black:Black commands the authority, power and intelligence that your business needs but you should be careful when using back as it evokes too much emotions and can be overwhelming, cause emptiness and send the wrong message as it is also associated with evil and danger.

Combining Colours

You can decide what colour to use to suit your business perfectly by considering the colour schemes using the colour wheel as a guide;

The Colour Wheel

1. Monochromatic colour scheme:This is the use of a single colour in their tints and shades. Using this scheme creates a soothing, pleasing effect to the eye. This scheme can be used for your business logo and website. Cool colour like green or blue would be recommended for this scheme.

Blue Monochromatic scheme

Green Monochromatic scheme

2. Complementary colour scheme:This is choosing colours opposite each other on the colour wheel; this creates a high contrast as it puts warm and cool colours together. The effect is vibrant and high. To achieve good contrast, I suggest using a light shade of one colour against the dark shade of the other, it still gives a vibrant, high energy combination that is not disturbing to the eye.

3. Harmonious colour scheme:This is using colours that are neighbours on the colour wheel. These colours are usually balanced and blend well because they contain the same hue. Experiment with the right tints and shades to get your desired effect.

4. Triad colour scheme:In this scheme, you use colours that are equally spaced on the colour wheel. It allows for a balance and harmony of hue, experiment with different tints and shades to get interesting effects. Be careful when using a triad scheme as you only need two basic colours for your brand, the third colour should be used sparingly at the right places.

5. Neutral colour scheme:When you are unsure of what colour to choose for your brand, you could use the two neutral colours; black and white. The authority and power of black added with the purity of white might be the twist your business needs.

2 Lusrau "Color Psychology in Business Branding"

Lasisi, this is a great article. There is an abundance of “color psychology” articles online, with new ones cropping up every day, and they all generally only give a breakdown of the most common colors and the meanings and feelings invoked by each. So I really appreciate how you’ve taken it a step further and given the business owner actionable information that he/she can use — helping us choose not only “a color,” but a color SCHEME for business branding.